Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad

The passenger train rounding the bend on Little Traverse Bay, as shown on the front of this post card, belonged to the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad.

Wikipedia does provide a longer and more detailed history of the railroad; I have condensed this history here. Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad according to Wikipedia: The company was formed on January 18, 1854. The company opened service between Bridge Street in Grand Rapids to Cedar Springs, Michigan, on December 25, 1867, a distance of about 20 miles (32 km). Six months later, in July of 1868 it had 2 engines in service: the Pioneer and the Muskegon. At that time the company also utilized a single passenger coach and single baggage car, six box cars, 24 flat cars and five hand cars. On June 21, 1869, the last rail connecting Cedar Springs to Morley, Michigan was laid. The track from the south into Grand Rapids was completed September 13, 1870. The line extended north to Big Rapids, Michigan, by October 1, 1870, and a train first traveled between Fort Wayne and Big Rapids on that date. In June 1871, the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad Company took control of the road and property of the Cincinnati, Richmond and Fort Wayne Railroad Company, extending the line south to Cincinnati. The line between Paris and Petoskey, Michigan, was completed November 25, 1873. The railroad was opened to Mackinaw City, Michigan, and the Straits of Mackinac on July 3, 1882. The total length of the line at this time was 529 miles (851 km). As of July 1888, the railroad had expanded its fleet to 66 locomotives and 3,100 cars. Its gross earnings were close to $2.3 million in 1887. In 1891 the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad featured the longest North-South line in the country. The railroad served to accelerate the settlement of Northern Michigan, which was largely a wilderness in the mid-19th century. On July 2, 1896, the Grand Rapids & Indiana Railroad reorganized as the Grand Rapids and Indiana Railway. That is the railway that owned the train on the front of this post card. By 1907 four passenger trains were running north to and from Mackinaw City daily. Passenger train fares were not enough to support the railroad and ridership declined. In 1909 the railroad reported a profit of 24.4 cents for every passenger for each mile carried; by 1921 the railroad was losing 19.5 cents per passenger mile. The Grand Rapids and Indiana Railroad was bought by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1918.

The back of the post card has been ruined by some dark stain. The good news is that, whatever it is, it did not leak through to the front of the card. The post card was published by Alton G. Cook (1862 – 1923) from Petoskey, Michigan. Here is a quote from an article I found about Mr. Cook’s business. “His latest booklet is entitled Summer Resorts on Little Traverse Bay and is one of the handsomest souvenirs ever published of Petoskey and Northern Michigan. In addition to all of these, Mr. Cook finds time to take pictures for the G R & I Railroad company for the quantities of advertising matter they send out every year. The making of post cards, which he began about five years ago has proved one of the most successful lines he has yet undertaken and, as he is continually working to improve and enlarge it, it is hard to predict what he will accomplish in the future. He runs an exclusive Post Card Store at 208 Midway which is said to carry the most complete line of cards of any in this region.”

The Firefly by Frisco

This locomotive on the front of the post card was one of only three 4-6-2's

built by the Frisco machine shops in 1939. Our friends at Wikipedia tell us this about the engine, its two sisters and the passenger train they pulled, “The Firefly”. The Firefly was a streamlined passenger train operated by the St. Louis – San Francisco Railway (the "Frisco"). At various times, it served St Louis, Missouri, Tulsa and Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Kansas City, Missouri, and Fort Scott, Kansas. It made its maiden run on March 29, 1940, and ended May 22, 1960. It was Frisco’s first streamliner, and the first streamliner to be built in the southwest. The Frisco decided to fit its steam locomotives with a cowling, described as a torpedo-type jacket giving it the appearance of a bullet-like projectile traveling down the track. The engines were converted by Frisco itself in Springfield, with the first one, No. 1026, being completed in May of 1938. The engine was not new; it had originally been built by the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1910 as an ordinary 4-6-2 “Pacific”. Two other engines, Nos. 1018 and 1031, both also Baldwin 4-6-2’s from 1910, were later converted for the Firefly service as well. This website tells us some of the history of the Railroad to which the locomotive on the front of this post card belonged: http://frisco.org/mainline/about-the-frisco-railroad/ The St. Louis–San Francisco Railway (affectionately known as the “Frisco”) was a St. Louis-based railroad that operated in nine Midwest and southern states from 1876 to 1980. The railroad stretched from Kansas City to Pensacola and St. Louis to Oklahoma City and Dallas, having some of the most iconic motive power, logos and slogans in the history of railroading. The Frisco was also renowned for excellent passenger service led by some of the best-looking steam locomotives ever built, and celebrated for fast freight hauling behind steam locomotives of its own design as well as diesels in the later era. Born as a branch of the great Pacific Railroad project of the mid-19th Century, the Frisco became a separate entity that helped to feed the population of a growing nation, helped build its factories and ship those factories’ products, helped win two World Wars, and helped to carry Americans East and West, North and South in style and comfort. In the 104 years of its separate existence, it became a major corporation that provided the best service possible to its customers while treating its employees like a big family, never losing the homey touch. The Frisco merged with, and was assimilated into, the Burlington Northern on November 21, 1980, but most of its lines are still in service today with the BNSF or various short lines.

This is a Real Photo Post Card. It was taken by A. D. Wellborn. I could find nothing about the photographer on the internet.

To Russia with Love, NOT!

The picture on the front of this post card was taken on August 25, 1956. They are locomotives working for Eagle Picher. In 1927, the Eagle-Picher Lead Company was one of the largest white lead and zinc companies in the United States. Its assets exceeded $45,000,000, with ore refineries in Kansas and Oklahoma as well as Missouri. However, the locomotives in the picture are much older than the 1956 picture. These are ex-Frisco

locomotives and were some of the last true Russian Decapods in existence at that time. Here is the history on each of the locomotives as taken from this website: https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?10,4762780 This website (in orange, below) has a book about the Russian Decapods. I have taken some information from the first page. If you are interested, I am sure it will make for some fascinating reading. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43518384 In the early 1900s Russia ordered a huge fleet of 2-10-0 type locomotives known as Decapods. A. I. Lipetz, the chief of the locomotive division of the Russian Mission on Ways of Communication, managed the design and construction in the US. They were originally built for the 5-foot gauge Russian State Railways to haul 1300 metric tons at a speed of 8 to 10 miles per hour over grades of .8%. The Bolshevik revolution forced cancellation of undelivered locomotives, so the builders sold them to American railroad companies. Eventually, the locomotives served on at least 42 different railroads, mostly in the east and south. These locomotives were considered by some to be the ugliest locomotives ever built. They had low drivers, very high boilers and enormous steam domes. Some American railroads made cosmetic adjustments to change the appearance of their Decapods.

The post card was published by Bob Fremming of Dallas, Wisconsin. The picture was taken by Richard Wallin of Kirkwood Missouri. I searched the internet over and over and found no information about either of these people.

Focus on the Train, Not the Battle!

The picture on this post card is of a Baltimore & Ohio train crossing over

Brandywine Creek in Wilmington, Delaware. I bought the post card because of the train on the front. Evidently, the publishers of the post card were more interested in the history related to the site. The description on the back of the post card focuses on a battle that was fought there in the Revolutionary War on September 11, 1777 which led to the occupation of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania by the British Army. I went on line and looked up the bridge. This website gives an excellent description of the history of the bridge and the railroads that are related to it. https://historicbridges.org/delaware/brandywineviaduct/inventory.pdf Delaware’s most visually impressive stone arch bridge is the 1909-1910 Brandywine Viaduct built by the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad over Brandywine Creek in Wilmington. The seven-span bridge is slightly less than 1,000’ long and rises over 110’ above the creek. The bridge was built as the railroad’s replacement of an 1888 iron deck truss bridge, which had proven inadequate to heavier locomotives. Although the B&O could have chosen to build another steel truss bridge, or a reinforced concrete bridge, there were few bridge types that spoke to permanency and stability as well as a stone arch, even if stone construction was very costly. The iron truss bridge in the background of this picture on the post card was abandoned by the railroad in 1910. It was then transferred to the City of Wilmington, which converted the bridge for use by pedestrians and motorized vehicles. Today, the railroad bridge is owned by CSX.

The post card was published by a company from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. This may account for the interest in the historical aspect rather than the railroad aspect of the scene. The company, the Post Card Distributing Company, existed from 1911 to 1919. They have a great logo – see the picture of the statue of William Penn on top of City Hall in the top middle of the post card back. The post card was printed by Curt Otto Teich. His numbering system (to the right of the statue, above the word POST) suggests that this card was printed in 1917; probably early 1917, since the post rate went from one cent to two cents on November 2, 1917 and the rate for this card is one cent.

Plummer Junction, You Say??

The picture here is a Real Photo Post Card. It was made by Charles A. Lane care of Los Angeles Railway at 7th and Central Avenue in Los Angeles, California. The pencil writing on the back tells us that this passenger train is on the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad (CM&SP). It is climbing a steep grade from Ste. Marie to Plummer Junction in Idaho in April of 1922. I have blogged in the past about the CM&SP so I went on line to see what I could learn about Plummer Junction. This website gives a great, photograph-filled tour of Plummer Junction and the surrounding railroad related area. The photographs are from the 70s. I highly recommend that you visit the site. https://www.milwelectric.org/palouse-to-cascades-trail-virtual-tour-plummer/ Plummer Junction was a relay office as well as a train order office. In addition to delivering orders to trains, the office also bridged telegraph circuits to pass along messages.

Allen Miller drew this map of Plummer Junction that shows the configuration of the wye, location of water tank, depot and the old U.P. line that went under the legs of the wye. The Plummer Junction depot was located inside the wye off the main line between Malden (west) and St. Maries (east). Trains from Spokane would come in from the east (right) and have the option of going either direction on the main line. The Union Pacific line from Tekoa to Wallace also came through Plummer. Today the St. Maries River Railroad comes in from the east on the Milwaukee Road main line and interchanges with the Union Pacific at Plummer. The Union Pacific comes in from Spokane on the former Milwaukee Road line to interchange with the St. Maries River Railroad and to service the Plummer mill.

I know nothing about the photographer who would also be the publisher. But I am reproducing the back of the post card here for your viewing pleasure.

A Mighty Midget

The information about the locomotive on the front of this post card was taken from this website: http://hawkinsrails.net/industrials/lclc/lclc.htm About 1920, a small 2-6-0 was sold to the Williams Lumber Co. at Ponchatoula, Louisiana, and sold again in May 1921 to the Joseph Rathborne Lumber Co. Rathbone closed in 1929 and was sold to the Joyce interests of Chicago. The Joyce family also operated rail lines at Rainey River, Minnesota and Manistique, Michigan. The Ponchatoula mill was reopened on July 15, 1936 as the Louisiana Cypress Lumber Co.

The little 2-6-0 was renumbered to #2 and served as backup to the company's road locomotive #1, a 2-6-2 built by Porter in 1921. For about a year before the mill closed in January 1956, Cypress imported mahogany logs from Honduras to cut up at the Ponchatoula mill. The logs were shipped to New Orleans by steamship and then transported to Ponchatoula in Illinois Central gondolas. #2 was used in regular service as the switcher at the mill to switch the gondolas while #1 was out on the road. This map shows where in Louisiana the locomotive did its work.

Remembered with Love

The Buffalo Creek & Gauley Railroad (BC&G) was an 18.6 mile long coal-hauling short-line that operated in central West Virginia in its original form from 1904 through 1965.

The locomotive on the front of this post card is a 2-8-0, “Consolidation”. Number 13 was owned by the BC&G. The photo was taken in April of 1963. BC&G Consolidation #13 was built by the Alco's Brooks works in 1920 as c/n 61579. She was acquired by the BC&G in 1950 from the Kelly's Creek and Northwestern. BC&G Consolidation drew the assignment to be on the point of the final scheduled train from Widen before the Rich Run Mine closed. The date was December 30, 1963. Engine #13 had a life after the BC&G. She was sold in 1964 to the South Penn Museum, then went to the Lakeshore Central System before going to the Logansport & Eel River. She is currently owned by the Ohio Central Railroad. She served there in tourist service for a number of years. The engine is now at the AGE OF STEAM museum in Ohio, but is currently not in service. The history of the Buffalo Creek & Gauley can be broken into four fairly distinct periods. The first runs from the formation of the Elk River Coal and Lumber Co. and the chartering of the BC&G in 1904 until the final closing of the BC&G in 1965. The BC&G bought only one engine new, Baldwin Consolidation #4, in 1926, but it continued to acquire steam engines long after other railroads had dieselized. Consolidations #13 and #14 were purchased from the Kelly's Creek and Northwestern in 1950. The logging line had three Climax acquired new over the years, and acquired their last steam engine, Shay #19, from the Cherry River Boom & Lumber Company as late as 1957. This engine, and other geared engines, traveled into the woods along the Lilly Fork. The Lilly Fork varied in length over the years but reached about 9 miles into the woods. The second period is the 1970's and early 1980's when the Majestic Mining Company reopened the line for a while. The third period was in the early 1990's when The Elk River Railroad, Inc. used a portion of the former BC&G track. The final period is, fortunately, the present. This includes the work being done by the BC&G Co-Operative to establish a tourist line on the former BC&G track. The above information was gleaned from this website. The website reflects some people's love and concern for keeping the memory of the Buffalo Creek & Gauley Railroad alive. Take a look at what they have to say. www.buffalocreekandgauley.com

The post card was published by Railcards.com. I know nothing about the publisher even though I have 204 of their post cards in my collection.